Image forming apparatus and control method of thereof

Abstract

An image forming apparatus and method thereof are provided. The image forming apparatus includes: a scanner configured to generate a scan image by scanning a document, a processor configured to generate color information of a medium representing content of the document using a predetermined area of the scan image, and to gamma-correct color of an entire area of the scan image based on the color information, and a printer configured to print the gamma-corrected scan image.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
 a scanner to generate a scanned image of an image formed on a medium by scanning the medium; 
 a processor to,
 generate color information of a color of the medium using a determined area of the scanned image, 
 perform a determination of whether the color of the medium is within or outside a white color range based on a settable color range and/or a settable brightness range, and 
 perform a first or a second gamma-correction of a color of an entire area of the scanned image based on the color of the medium, in response to the determination of whether the color of the medium is within or outside the white color range, 
 wherein,
 provided the color of the medium is outside the white color range according to the determination, the processor is to perform the first gamma-correction of the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to stored first gamma data, and 
 provided the color of the medium is within the white color range according to the determination, the processor is to perform the second gamma-correction of the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to second gamma data which is generated by correcting the stored first gamma data based on the generated color information of the color of the medium; and 
 
 
 a printer to print the gamma-corrected scanned image. 
 
     
     
       2. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a display to display a user interface (UI) element to set the white color range. 
 
     
     
       3. The image forming apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein,
 the UI element comprises a first UI element to set the color range and a second UI element to set the brightness range. 
 
     
     
       4. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the medium is a colored paper, and
 the image forming apparatus further comprises a display to display a UI element for selecting whether to perform a color correction according to the color of the colored paper. 
 
     
     
       5. The image forming apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein, provided the color correction the colored paper is selected through the UI element, the processor is to gamma-correct the color of the entire area of the scanned image based on the generated color information of the color of the medium even when a color corresponding to the generated color information of the color of the medium is outside the white color range. 
     
     
       6. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a display to display a first preview image which is a result of gamma-correcting the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to a stored first gamma, and to display a second preview image which is a result of gamma-correcting the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to a second gamma which is generated by correcting the stored first gamma based on the generated color information of the color of the medium. 
 
     
     
       7. The image forming apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the display is to further display a correction graph corresponding to the stored first gamma and a correction graph corresponding to the second gamma. 
     
     
       8. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a display to display a UI element for selecting one of a correction criterion of using a minimum value, a correction criterion of using a maximum value, and a correction criterion of using a median value, to gamma-correct the color of the entire area of the scanned image. 
 
     
     
       9. The image forming apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein,
 provided one of the correction criterion of using the minimum value, the correction criterion of using the maximum value, and the correction criterion of using the median value is selected through the UI element, the processor is to select a minimum value, a maximum value, or a median value of a red (R) value, a green (G) value, and a blue (B) value of the color corresponding to the generated color information of the color of the medium according to the selected correction criterion, and to gamma-correct the entire area of the scanned image based on a compensation value which makes the other values equal to the selected value. 
 
     
     
       10. The image forming apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the processor is to apply a determined weight value to the compensation value and to gamma-correct the entire area of the scanned image based on the compensation value to which the weight value is applied. 
     
     
       11. The image forming apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the display is to further display a UI element for setting a weight value to be applied to the compensation value. 
     
     
       12. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the scanner is to generate a plurality of scanned images by scanning a plurality of media, respectively, and
 wherein the processor is to generate color information of a color of a corresponding medium, respectively, using corresponding determined areas of the plurality of scanned images, and to gamma-correct entire areas of the plurality of scanned images based on the plurality of color information of the color of the media corresponding to the determined areas. 
 
     
     
       13. The image forming apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the scanner is to generate block images from a leading end of the medium on a predetermined basis in phases, and
 wherein the processor is to generate color information of the color of the medium from a block image corresponding to the leading end, to gamma-correct the block images subsequently generated based on the color information of the color of the medium, and to generate a gamma-corrected scanned image by combining the gamma-corrected block images. 
 
     
     
       14. A control method of an image forming apparatus, comprising:
 generating a scanned image by scanning a medium on which an image is formed; 
 generating color information of a color of the medium using a determined area of the scanned image; 
 determining whether the color of the medium is within or outside a white color range based on a settable color range and/or a settable brightness range; and 
 performing a first or a second gamma-correction of a color of an entire area of the scanned image based on the color of the medium, in response to the determining whether the color of the medium is within or outside the white color range, to print the gamma-corrected scanned image, 
 wherein
 provided the color of the medium is outside the white color range according to the determining, perform the first gamma-correction of the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to pre-stored first gamma data, and 
 provided the color of the medium is within the white color range according to the determining, perform the second gamma-correction of the color of the entire area of the scanned image according to second gamma data which is generated by applying the generated color information of the color of the medium to the first gamma data. 
 
 
     
     
       15. The control method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 displaying a user interface (UI) element to set the white color range. 
 
     
     
       16. The control method of  claim 15 , wherein the displayed UI element comprises a first UI element to set the color range, and a second UI element to set the brightness range.